Takapu Valley residents found out last week that
NZTA have plans to build a new motorway through many homes
and farms, to link Grenada North to Transmission Gully
bypassing traffic around Porirua.

"The Wellington City
Council is blindsiding the community, by attempting to take
the freight and warehousing industry from Hutt City by
stealth with major implications for businesses, industry and
livelihoods in the Hutt Valley." said Richard Brown,
spokesperson for concerned Takapu Valley locals.

Takapu
residents discovered the 11th hour change of plan when New
Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) officials apparently
accidentally left a map which illustrates the change of
plans, while visiting a resident.

Further research has
uncovered an unusual agreement signed between the Wellington
Mayor and NZTA on 20 Dec 2013, just before Christmas last
year, explicitly stating the goal to:

‘Strengthen
Wellington’s [City] strategic location as a freight hub by
improving the efficiency of freight movements to, through
and beyond Wellington.’

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said
“This Accord enables us to remain inside the tent for
important transport programmes and projects6”, and
“6this agreement is a sign Wellington is open for
business.”

Once the Petone to Grenada North road is
finished, by linking Grenada North to Transmission Gully via
the proposed Takapu Valley motorway, Wellington City will
have the space, location and link to develop Grenada North
into the new logistics hub. This sudden new Takapu Valley
motorway we’ve discovered is key to making it happen.
“It will bleed Hutt City dry of businesses and rates if
WCC gets its way with this proposal” said Mr Brown,
“I’d be worried if I was the Hutt City Mayor”.

"No
wonder there are so many closed door last minute meetings.
It's a sudden last minute move to announce bulldozing of
Takapu Valley. This is a killer move by the Wellington
Mayor, a total blind-siding of her neighbouring councils,"
said Mr Brown.

"The new Grenada to Transmission Gully road
(Takapu Valley) has suddenly appeared overnight despite
Transmission Gully planning of 20 years; its secretive, it's
weird and looks like it’s extremely rushed to approve it
before the election."

Locals are understandably concerned
that a major new road appears in no public planning or
strategy documents and is now being rushed through urgently.
“They’re restarting their plans that were stopped by
commonsense in 1990 by the Parliamentary Commissioner for
the Environment Helen Hughes; they’re being underhand”
said Mr Brown.

"So, what are they really up to?” asked
Mr Brown, “It looks like Wellington City Council has done
a quick and dirty deal to ram a new motorway through Takapu
Valley in order to take Hutt City business and rates. We
suspect the transport lobby is behind this as
well".

PORIRUA CITY WON'T FARE MUCH BETTER THAN HUTT
CITY"The suddenly proposed Takapu Valley motorway
will cut the Porirua City off from Transmission Gully
traffic flow, option D on the secret map clearly shows this.
NZTA have said is their preferred option". “Porirua Mayor
Nick Leggett would have to be very concerned; it's something
Porirua Mayors have fought against for at least 20
years.”

WELLINGTON SUPER CITY NEEDED NOW"It
looks like Wellington City Council could be stealing from
the Hutt and Porirua Councils, for their own ends. Clearly
Wellington Region urgently needs a super city council to put
an end to this madness - that's the only conclusion we can
make from the evidence available"

Takapu Valley residents
are upset and angry about the lack of consultation with
them, the community who will be directly affected by such a
change of plan. They’re also angry that they’re being
pitted against Tawa Residents who could lose their homes in
option C. “We feel for them
too”.

Notes:

• Takapu Valley, near Tawa, is
one of the last remaining close knit rural communities in
Wellington City. Some farms go back to the 1800’s and have
been in continuous family ownership.

• Transmission
Gully was planned and consulted over 20 years. Grenada to
Transmission Gully (Takapu valley) will have a mere 6 weeks
consultation period with an urgent decision timetabled
before the general election.

• There is no reference to
the new Grenada to Transmission Gully road (Takapu Valley)
in any planning document publicly available. Why is such a
large roading project invisible to the public and being
created suddenly without strategic planning?

• The
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) Helen
Hughes' Report into Transmission Gully recommended that
Takapu Valley be saved from roading, hence recommending the
current Linden/Kenepuru start to TG.

• Following the PCE
report, the Greater Wellington Regional Council (WRC at the
time) Report further recommended protection from
Transmission Gully for Takapu Valley for environmental and
social reasons, recommending the current Linden/Kenepuru
start to TG.

• The Transmission Gully start was moved to
Linden because of these reports, NZTA are now looking to
build both, with no recourse to previous
reports.

• DomPost reported a closed door briefing of
WCC councilors on the 4th Feb. The elected representatives
of the Tawa Community Board on the Wellington City Council
were excluded from the briefing.

• No key stakeholders
to the Petone – Grenada road have been shown the secret
map despite working on this for a number of
years.

• Over 10yrs consultation for transmission gully.
Residents will be given 6 weeks, from a standing start, to
fight their case to save their farms, homes, and
livelihoods.

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